


Torture Doesn’t Work if You Don’t Have a Soulmate

by Daddy_Clarinetist



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series), The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, But it’s bittersweet circumstances, Canonical Character Death, Ghosts, M/M, Mentions of drugs, Others are siblings, Sad, The dead - Freeform, This show has taken over my life, Time Travel, Vietnam War, Virgil Angst, Virgil is Klaus even tho their personalities don’t align very well, War, Writing on Skin, but i wrote this on my school computer, fight me, for the Umbrella Academy at least, happy-ish ending I guess, or guns since those are mentioned too, roman is Dave, seance virgil, so I did not specifically use the word drugs, spoilers for the umbrella academy, virgil an see the dead, virgil as number four
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-19
Updated: 2019-04-19
Packaged: 2020-01-16 15:06:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18524005
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Daddy_Clarinetist/pseuds/Daddy_Clarinetist
Summary: Virgil didn’t have a soulmate like everyone else did, right? Well, maybe traveling back in time will allow him to find the one meant for him.The Umbrella Academy AU with prinxiety





	Torture Doesn’t Work if You Don’t Have a Soulmate

Virgil did not understand. Everybody else had one. Every single other person in this world had somebody to call their own. So why didn’t he? 

 

See, the universe had given the intelligent occupants of that planet a wonderful gift: they would be able to communicate with their soulmate just by writing on their skin. It was supposed to be magical. Virgil was supposed to wake up every morning to find little messages from his other half wishing him a good day. He was supposed to draw hearts on their skin to show how much he loved them.

 

Instead, he got nothing. There wasn’t even a small hint of him having a soulmate at all. There were no accidental pen marks upon his skin that weren’t his own. His fingers never got covered in paint - not even as a child when they were encouraged to show their creativity more. 

 

Well, that was what Virgil had heard of, anyway. He read stories of people looking down at their hands to find specks of color. Virgil himself was never allowed to paint, exactly, but he had heard that kids from normal households got to do fun things all the time.

 

Maybe that was why he didn’t have a soulmate. He was too abnormal and messed up. Maybe he did and they simply didn’t want anything to do with him. No, that didn’t make any sense. He would still see accidental markings! Perhaps is was normal for people like him to not have a soulmate. 

 

“Wait, no, that makes no sense,” Virgil said out loud to himself. “Picani and Remy are obviously soulmates, no matter how screwed up that whole scenario is. Patton might not exactly be like the rest of us, but he still has a soulmate to talk to.”

 

Virgil sighed, giving up. He would never figure out why he didn’t have a soulmate. He might as well not dwell on it. 

 

“Maybe one of you are my soulmate,” Virgil giggled, glancing at a being standing nearby that was staring at him intently. The being came closer, but Virgil shook his head, telling it not to get any closer. Then, he threw the small items he had in his hand into his mouth, swallowing instantly. Leaning back, he closed his eyes in happiness.

 

It would be a great night.

 

...

 

“What is taking Deceit so long?” Virgil groaned. He turned to look at the person next to him, wanting to make idle conversation to pass the time until his other brother came back to the car. “He even has his radio out there with him, don’t you see, Logan?”

 

Logan, another one of Virgil’s brothers, nodded, not really paying attention to what was going on. Virgil was oblivious to this, so he kept talking to him. 

 

“He really needs to take a break and stop working for a little bit, especially with everything going on right now.”

 

This caught Logan’s attention. “And you need to stop as well.”

 

“Whaaaat?” Virgil full on started hysterically laughing, “I don’t have a  _ job _ !”

 

“No, I meant that you need to stop poisoning yourself with whatever you can find. It’s going to kill you one day.”

 

Virgil pretended like he was pondering this. He knew that what he was doing was not good for him, but he couldn’t stop. It just felt so  _ good _ . He finally felt  _ alive _ for once. 

 

Because what Logan didn’t understand was that without his way of escape, he already felt like he was dead.

 

...

 

“So, what can you tell us about Thomas?” The lady asked. She was hovering over Virgil, trying to intimidate him. She was wearing a mask that she probably thought looked creepy, but Virgil had seen far worse in his lifetime to even be fazed by this. 

 

“I’m sorry, but you have the wrong person. Literally anybody else would be of better help for you than me,” Virgil replied, a smug look on his face.

 

“We know that you know at least something. We have ways of getting it out of you,” The man told him. He was also wearing a mask, but it was even less scary than the woman’s was. Virgil couldn’t help but think about how lame all of this was. There was no point to it.

 

“Listen,” Virgil began, “I do not know the information that you need. I don’t get told thi-”

 

Virgil was interrupted by pain exploding in his head. The man had just slapped him. However, instead of giving in, Virgil just laughed, enjoying the pain. 

 

“What are his plans? What has he told you?” The woman demanded.

 

“Absolutely nothing!” Virgil exclaimed, grin wide on his face.

 

The woman turned to the man. “What is wrong with this guy? Nothing we have done is working. He’s enjoying all of this!”

 

“We just have to hit him where it hurts. Let’s try his soulmate.”

 

They turned back to Virgil, who was still smiling. He could hear what they were saying since they weren’t being quiet, and he knew that their efforts would be in vain. The man pulled a market out from his pocket, making Virgil wonder why he randomly kept markers with him. He assumed that these two would have been soulmates and wouldn’t need to write to each other when they were right next to one another, but he guessed he was wrong. 

 

The woman gripped Virgil’s arm, keeping it still despite the fact that he wouldn’t have been able to move it anyway. His arms were bond to the back of the chair, so it was impossible for him to move. The man brought down the marker, writing insults onto his skin. 

 

“There,” the man smirked, pulling back, “now your soulmate will think you hate them, and you’ll never be able to correct it since you’ll be dead at the end of this.”

 

Virgil laughed. “That is the stupidest plan I have ever heard of. First of all, that’s not my handwriting, so it would obviously not be me. Second of all, soulmates would have more trust in each other. Third of all, I don’t have a soulmate.”

 

“Everybody has a soulmate,” the man stated.

 

“Obviously not everyone.”

 

“Did they die?”

 

“Just never got one.”

 

The man turned back to the woman. “We need a new plan. What do we do?”

 

“Hand me his coat,” the woman said.

 

The man handed her the long, heavy coat, wondering what exactly was being kept in the pockets. The woman stood in front of Virgil, digging her hands into the pockets. Her fingers hit what felt like a small bag. Pulling it out, she confirmed that it was, in fact, a plastic bag with a questionable substance in it.

 

“Oh, you could have told me that you wanted some,” Virgil said, “I might be inclined to share if you would place a few in my mouth.”

 

The woman pretended to be thinking about it while she opened the bag. Giving him a slight glare, she dumped the contents onto the floor, stepping all over them.

 

“Awe, no, don’t do that,” Virgil complained, suddenly not feeling this kidnapping anymore. He did not like it when people destroyed what he spent cold, hard cash on.

 

“Then tell us what we want to know,” the man said, knowing that they had him where they wanted him.

 

Virgil groaned. “Fiiiiiiine!”

 

...

 

Finally, he had escaped. Crawling through the vents was not ideal, but he managed to do so without making too much noise. He was also able to steal this nice briefcase as well. Virgil wondered what was inside, but he had not been able to open it yet since he was too busy running for his life.

 

It was unfortunate that the person who saved him ended up killed. He knew that Deceit was fond of that girl, but there was nothing he could do about it now. If he hadn’t run, he might have been shot as well. 

 

Luckily, he was now safe on a bus. There was a lady sitting in front of him that was eyeing him, but he didn’t mind. People could oogle if they wanted. Virgil placed the briefcase in his lap, excited to be able to open it at last. 

 

“Please be money,” Virgil whispered, wishing with all of his heart. He really needed more cash to replace what those jerks had destroyed. 

 

It definitely was not money. Not money at all. One moment, Virgil was sitting on a nearly empty bus, and the next he was surrounded by many others.

 

...

 

“I’m Roman,” Roman had introduced himself when he noticed Virgil. It was obvious that he had no idea what had just happened, but he was not one to dwell too much on anything. He felt that it was best to welcome Virgil into their nightmare.

 

“Virgil,” Virgil responded, confused about where he was. Wasn’t he just on the bus across from that lady? Now he was on a completely different bus, surrounded by people wearing military uniforms. 

 

“Go, go, go! Get a move on, we gotta go!” Another voice rang out, causing everyone to jump up. They rushed off of the bus, but Virgil just sat there frozen. That was, until he was handed supplies to help out…

 

…

 

That night, Virgil laid in a small, uncomfortable cot. He had no idea what to do. There was no way that he could stay there, but the possibility of it being better than his own life was tempting him to throw that briefcase into a river. At the same time, he was scared of what was to come, especially once he figured out where he was.

 

Luckily, the answer soon came to him.

 

Roman stood above him, wanting to talk to him. Virgil sat up, making room for Roman to sit beside him in the little space there was.

 

“What’s up?” Virgil asked.

 

“Something weird just happened, and I don’t really have anybody I talk to here. Neither do you, it seems, so I figured we could be friends. I need to talk about this with somebody so that I can understand,” Roman explained.

 

“Alright, lay it on me,” Virgil agreed, curious as to what the other man could be talking about. 

 

Roman lifted the sleeve of his jacket that he was wearing, showcasing words that had been written there. When Virgil saw the marks, his eyes widened. “I was changing when I noticed these on my skin.”

 

“Soulmarks? Isn’t that normal?” Virgil asked, knowing exactly why Roman was confused. He didn’t know how he was going to explain things to him.

 

“To most people, yes, but this is the first time I have ever gotten soulmarks.”

 

“They’re pretty negative, aren’t they?” 

 

“Yeah, but I have this awful feeling that it wasn’t written by my soulmate. Somebody had to have been hurting them, but I don’t know for sure. I’m worried, especially since this is the first time I’ve ever heard from them.”

 

Virgil couldn’t let this go on any longer. He had to ease his pain. “Roman, I have to show you something.”

 

Slowly, he lifted the sleeve up his arm. He carefully gauged Roman’s reaction as the other man saw what was on his skin. The words on both of them matched, and the shock on both of their faces was very evident. 

 

“Wh-What? I don’t understand. Why would you… Why haven’t you written to me before? What even is all of this?” Roman asked, getting angrier every second.

 

“Wait, I can explain!” Virgil reassured him, realizing why he had never heard from his soulmate before. Roman wasn’t alive in his time, so there was no way they could have communicated. 

 

“It better be a good explanation because I can’t think of a single reason as to why you would ignore me! I’ve written to you so many times with no response! Why wouldn’t you respond?” Roman was whisper-yelling now, tears starting to fall from his eyes. Seeing him cry made Virgil even more frustrated and hurt, and he could feel himself on the verge of tears as well.

 

“I promise, everything will make sense if you’ll just believe me. You might be skeptical, but I swear that I’m not lying. I’m not insane, just please, hear me out,” Virgil begged. 

 

Roman forced himself to take a deep breath, but it did not calm him down at all. He managed to give a weak nod, letting Virgil speak.

 

“Remember when we met on that bus?” Virgil asked, “Did you see me there during the start of the ride? Was I there at all before you first spoke to me?”

 

“I,” Roman paused, confused, “Now that I think about it, no. What… Why don’t I remember you being there?”

 

“It sounds unbelievable, but listen… I’m from the future. I’m from the year 2019, and I accidentally time traveled here. I was kidnapped by these two jerks from the future - well, my future. They tortured me, and I would have died if this cop lady hadn’t gotten me out. I stole their briefcase, and when I opened it, I was suddenly there on that bus with you.”

 

“So, wait,” Roman spoke up, “you’re trying to tell me that these were written by the people who kidnapped you… in the future? You realize that sounds outlandish, right?”

 

“Trust me, that is not the weirdest thing about me.”

 

“There’s more? I’m already on the fence about this. How can it get weirder?”

 

“Well… I can kind of see the dead,” Virgil admitted.

 

“...Excuse me?” Roman stood up, finally done with what he was hearing. 

 

“Wait, no, I’m not lying.”

 

“Then prove it.”

 

“I can’t, I drank too much earlier when we got that break. I need to be sober, and the dead is kind of scary, so I’d rather not be. Besides, I haven’t really developed my powers enough to pro-”

 

Roman cut him off, “No, no, I’m done. When you’re ready to tell me the truth, come find me. Until then, don’t bother”

 

The tears finally fell down Virgil’s cheeks as he watched Roman walk away, not giving him a chance. His own soulmate didn’t believe him, but how could he assume that he would? His story was ridiculous, and it made sense that he didn’t see it as the truth. He probably thought Virgil hated him. Virgil was most likely insane in his eyes.

 

...

 

Ever since he was aware of his powers, Virgil had been terrified of them. The dead was grotesque, and they always screamed at him to help them. Somehow, they all knew his name, and they never let him forget that they did. All they would say was “Virgil, this! Virgil, help with that!” It never let up!

 

There was only one ghost that he could actually stand. One single ghost was there for him, not minding that he did not know how to help him with anything in return. Maybe one day he would, but for now, he was content with being there for him, even if it did pain him to see Virgil harm himself with substance. His brother, Logan, had been dead for years now, yet he was still there, practically haunting Virgil. 

 

Well, he wasn’t there  _ now _ , of course. Virgil figured that since he was in the past - where none of them had technically been born yet - Logan was not dead yet. Therefore, he was not there with Virgil. He was alone for this mess.

 

Virgil was tempted again to go back to the briefcase, which he had hidden where only he could find it. He wanted to go back to his time so badly. War was too much for him, and he wished dearly to be with his family, even if most of them easily got annoyed with him. However, a part of him would not allow himself to leave his soulmate. Roman did not trust him at the moment. They weren’t even on speaking terms, but Virgil had to try  _ something _ . His whole life, he wanted a soulmate. Now that he had one, he couldn’t just let it go to waste. Somehow, he had to prove to Roman that he was telling the truth. He craved that feeling of love that he never got to experience from another.

 

There was only one way that he could prove this, though. He had to sober up, face his fears, and hopefully manage to manifest the dead where Roman could see it, despite never having been able to do that before. There was a chance that Roman would believe him if he just described what was going on, but he would most likely think that he was making it up on the spot. No, he would have to show his fears to his love.

 

The good news about being at war, if there could ever be good news, was that they did not tolerate substance abuse much. Yes, it was possible for Virgil to get his hands on something if he really tried, but it was much more difficult. All they really had was alcohol, but Virgil was able to force himself to stay away from it after his and Roman’s last talk. 

 

The withdrawals that he was having was horrible, but with the support of his squad, he was getting through it. Unfortunately, Roman was still ignoring him, so he did not seem to notice that Virgil was sobering up. He would know in due time, though. He’d see soon that Virgil was doing this for them; for him. 

 

The moment that Virgil knew his plan to become sober was working was not pleasant. He woke up one morning to find a man standing in front of his bed. The man was disgusting; blood was dripping down his face. Virgil jolted when he saw him, moving as far away as he could. In his small cot, it was not that far. The man reached towards him, his hand scratched up beyond belief. Virgil wished that he could say that he was prepared to remedy this situation, but he was not. 

 

“Virgil, you good there?” One of his fellow soldiers asked from another cot nearby. Virgil’s eyes jumped over to him, having forgotten that others could see him. Sometimes he felt like he was invisible too, as being the only one who could see the dead could be trippy. 

 

Virgil nodded, trying to pretend that there wasn’t anybody dead reaching out to him right now. He quickly stood up, rushing to get ready for the day. If it meant that he would both get away from that man and look responsible to the higher ups for being early, then hurrying through the exhaustion was worth it. 

 

As he walked past everyone else in the room who were either waking up or trying to get a few more minutes of sleep, Virgil did his best to ignore the new occupants that were in there with them. They were everywhere, just like he had remembered them before. The wails trailed after him, coming from everywhere at once. 

 

He just had to ignore it…

 

_ He didn’t think he could ignore this. _

 

…

 

Virgil danced in the club, trying to distract himself from the life that he was now living. It was one of the few breaks that his squad ever got, and he was determined to make the most out of it. He had been through so much so far, both in his old life and the one he was living now. Apparently, he was not allowed to have a break from the pain. For now, though, he just wanted to enjoy dancing without worrying about having a random person come up to him and scream in his face.

 

Over the past week or so, Virgil had been facing his worst nightmare. He had hoped that he would figure out a way to convince Roman to believe him now that he was trying to control his powers, but he had not had any luck so far. There was nothing he could do, and it sucked. He saw his soulmate everyday, but he was unable to even get close without him walking away. He even tried writing to him on his skin, but those went ignored as well.

 

Dancing was hard to get into while alone and sober. To make matters worse, his efforts to get away from the dead for a while was not working at all. It seemed that their screaming got louder as he danced. Finally, he couldn’t take anymore. Pressing his hands to his ears, he stumbled over to a seat that was nearby. In hindsight, this was a bad idea since the dead were now gathering around him, but he felt incapable of standing anymore. 

 

Honestly, he was on the verge of a panic attack. Throughout his life, he had had many of those, and they were not fun. As a child, he had his siblings to get him through them, and as an adult, he was sometimes lucky to find somebody on the streets to care for a few hours. Here, he felt utterly alone in this room full of people. Virgil’s breathing picked up, but soon, it felt like he couldn’t get air in at all. 

 

“Virgil,” he could barely hear somebody calling to him, “Virgil, breathe with me, ready?”

 

The person walked him through some breathing exercises. Soon, he was able to calm down, and he realized that he was now in that person’s arms. Looking up, he was surprised to find that it was Roman.

 

“R-Roman?” Virgil croaked, his voice hoarse. 

 

“I’m here, Virgil,” Roman told him, “I know that I haven’t been, but I am now. I might not believe you, but that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t help you get through this… episode or whatever you’re having?”

 

Pulling away - weak, yet angry - Virgil broke down in frustration. “I am not having an episode, Roman! The dead are surrounding us, and I’m scared! Just like when I was a kid, and now it’s happening again! I can’t control these powers! I can only suffer with them! I knew it was a bad idea to get sober, but I did it to prove it for you, and even that is not working!”

 

Roman sighed, “Alright, Virgil, calm down. You say you can see dead people? Well, then who do you see?”

 

Virgil looked mortified, “You want me to look  _ directly at them? _ ”

 

“I don’t want to scare you, but this needs to end, now. Either prove this to me now or let the lie go completely so that we can be happy together without it.”

 

This was it. This was Virgil’s last chance to prove that he was being truthful to his soulmate. If he didn’t find a way to show Roman what was going on, then there would be no chance of him earning his trust. 

 

Looking around, Virgil decided to try the technique he had done while with his kidnappers: he talked to the dead. Roman waited patiently, but there was an obvious look of disbelief on his face. 

 

“That one died from a car crash,” Virgil whispered, pointing to what Roman would have seen as an empty space. “He was with his wife and kids, but they survived. He was the one driving, and his mistake costed his family the life of their father and husband. That one is a Vietnamese soldier that was killed by one of our own in here. He was shot in the stomach and bled out before he could be rushed to a medical tent. That one was murdered by his own cousin, uhhhh Jacob. He’s here to watch over the only person in his family to care about him.”

 

“Wait, what?” Roman suddenly looked surprised. “Repeat that last one.”

 

“Umm, he was murdered by his own cousin, and he wants to watch over a loved one? He’s one of the nicer ones here. Most are just screaming my name and demanding for help that I can not give, but this one is being civil. He already knows what he wants to do, and he’s not rudely trying to force me to do something.”

 

“What’s his name?”

 

Virgil turned towards the ghost. “What is your name?”

 

“I am Darren,” the ghost replied.

 

“His name is Darren,” Virgil repeated. Roman’s eyes grew wide, and the look of disbelief left his face. 

 

“That’s my cousin,” Roman whispered, “He was killed by my brother, Jacob. He was jealous of how close Darren and I were since he felt that I should have loved him more for being his brother. He’s in jail now, but I never forget that day.”

 

Virgil frowned. “I’m sorry.”

 

“No, Virgil, I’m sorry. I believe you now. It’s crazy, but I believe you. There is no way you could have known that about me, so the fact that you got that out of the dead shows that it is real. I won’t doubt you anymore. I promise,” Roman took Virgil’s hands, pressing his lips to them to show that he was being sincere. 

 

“Alright,” Virgil responded, “I believe you.”

 

The two of them sat there, first letting Roman talk to his cousin through him. Then, they got up and danced, for once able to enjoy their time together. Finally, they leaned in, letting their lips meet despite being in a place where they could be discrimination directed at them for their homosexual relationship. They did not care, though. They were soulmates, and nothing could take them away from each other.

 

...

 

Or, perhaps, something could.

 

“No, Roman, no!” Virgil cried out, “Medical, please, somebody help!”

 

A moment before, they were both ducking down, weapons in hand. The booming shots echoed through the air, causing fear in all of those around. They seemed to be safe for the moment, and when Virgil turned to speak to his soulmate, he found blood instead.

 

“Roman, you can’t leave me. I can’t do this without you, please,” Virgil begged, “Nobody has loved me like you do.”

 

“Virgil,” Roman barely got out as he was slipping, “it’s okay.”

 

“No, it’s not. I need you! I love you!”

 

“And I you, my love. I will always love you. Please, remember me, and live your life. Go back to your family, Virgil. Stay sober, and hopefully I’ll be able to find you again.”

 

With that, Roman let go. He slumped over fully in Virgil’s arms, a smile on his face, as he had died with his soulmate near. 

 

Virgil let out a heartbroken sob, not caring that it was resonating throughout the battlefield. All those that heard - from both sides, nonetheless - grew mournful, knowing that somebody had just watched their soulmate die. It made them all hate this war, but they went on, Virgil crying in the midst of it.

 

...

 

Virgil was back on the empty bus in his own time as if nothing had happened. It was only a few hours later from when he had disappeared, but that was such a normal occurrence that nobody would have noticed. It was weird to think about how it had been months since he had seen his family, but for them, it wouldn’t have been nearly that long.

 

“You’re back,” Logan stated as he manifested next to Virgil. The Seance stayed quiet, unable to form any words. Logan continued, “I couldn’t find you for a few hours. Are you alright? Where were you? Where did you get those clothes? Why are you crying? Virgil, come on, you know that I don’t understand emotions like you do.”

 

“Logan, you wouldn’t understand, so please, just shut up,” Virgil begged.

 

“Not until you tell me where you were.”

 

Virgil turned to look at him, and Logan was shocked to find the dead look in his eyes. “This stupid briefcase took me back to the Vietnam War. All the way back to 1968, Logan.”

 

“What? How long were you there?”

 

“For about ten months?”

 

“Why didn’t you come back straight away?”

 

Virgil gave him a bittersweet smile. “I met my soulmate, that’s why.”

 

Logan waited for him to continue, but he never did. Looking him over, he tried to figure out why he wasn’t still with his soulmate. Contemplating all of the facts, he finally realized. “Your soulmate died.”

 

“Yes, he did,” Virgil cried, breaking down again. Logan, who was the worst at handling the emotions of his siblings, didn’t know what to do. He couldn’t offer physical comfort, as Virgil had not managed to grow his powers to the point of letting him touch him, so there was nothing that he could think of doing. 

 

When they got to his needed stop, Virgil hopped off. As soon as he was in a secluded area, he threw the briefcase on the ground, kicking and yeeting it around until it was a pile of junk. Now it wouldn’t be able to hurt anybody else.

 

“Let’s go home,” Logan suggested. Virgil agreed, ready to sleep in his own bed again.

 

...

 

It had been a few months. Virgil and his siblings stopped the apocalypse, growing closer while they did so. They learned a lot about each other, including Virgil’s time in Vietnam. His siblings supported his goal of staying sober now, and so far, he had been doing great. He just could not figure out why he was unable find Roman yet.

 

“He’ll come eventually,” Logan, who was alive again, tried to convince him.

 

“What if he doesn’t?” Virgil asked, “What if he’s mad at having to wait so long? What if he can’t find his way back here? What if he doesn’t love me anymore?”

 

“Virgil, he’s your soulmate,” Patton said, “of course he’s trying to find you. I bet he’s looking for you right now!”

 

Patton was to be the cause of the apocalypse, but the family managed to go back and fix their mistakes in order to stop it. Their brother did not deserve to be left out his entire life, powers or not. They knew that now, and Virgil was glad. He had always loved his “youngest” brother. 

 

“I don’t know, guys,” Virgil sighed. He wanted to believe that Roman would come back to him, but it wasn’t looking so good. Virgil had attempted to summon him multiple times now, and none of them had worked. He managed to talk to his own father, for crying out loud! Why couldn’t he find his soulmate?

 

“It will work out,” Patton promised.

 

...

 

Virgil stared at the table in front of him. On it, there was a bottle and a plastic bag. Both contained life ruining decisions. He had been doing so well, but he was close to giving up again. His family was trying their best, but they had so much to work on that they couldn’t get to everything. His attempts to summon his soulmate were futile, and he was convinced that it would never work. Therefore, wouldn’t it be easier for him to give up and go back to his old lifestyle?

 

Reaching forward, Virgil wrapped his hands around the bottle. He slowly raised it up, bringing it towards his lips. An inch of air separated the bottle from his lips. Breaking would be so easy. 

 

“Please don’t do this,” a familiar voice spoke. Turning around quickly, Virgil found himself face to face with his dead lover. The bottle fell to the ground, spilling everywhere, but Virgil did not care. 

 

“Roman, is that you?” Virgil’s voice broke, as he was not able to believe what he was seeing.

 

“Yes, I am, my love,” Roman told him, “I’m sorry it took so long, but I’m here now.”

 

“Where have you been? Are you okay?”

 

Roman smiled, reaching out to his soulmate. He expected his hands to pass through Virgil, as it did to everyone else he had seen in his quest to find his lover, but to his surprise, his hand met Virgil’s arm. In the time since Virgil had been back in his own life, he managed to gain control over his powers. It was now easier to manifest certain people, as well as let them be visible to others for short periods of time. He could even let them become corporal, and he was very glad that he could since the feeling of being able to touch his soulmate again was amazing.

 

“I’m fine,” Roman reassured him, wrapping him in a hug, “and look at you! You started to figure out your powers! I’m so proud of you!”

 

Virgil grinned, hugging back. Staying sober wasn’t as worthless as he had thought a few moments ago. This was the best reward that he could ever have, and he was never going to let his soulmate leave ever again.

 

“I missed you.”


End file.
